


Bone China

by Liviania



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Loneliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 14:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13660836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liviania/pseuds/Liviania
Summary: Melanie's new doll is somewhat unusual.





	Bone China

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetcarolanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/gifts).



The worn tissue paper crinkled as Melanie revealed the doll nestled within. It was a small sound, but one that echoed loudly in her quiet home. The doll's face was as beautiful as she remembered, with a sweet pink mouth slightly pursed, as if caught halfway through a dreaming breath. The brown paint on the sculpted curls had mostly worn off, but Melanie knew how to restore it. She'd also have to sew new clothes for the doll, since its current sleeper was more hole than cloth. In her years of collecting dolls, she'd become quite adept at caring for them.

Carefully she lifted the doll from its box, cradling it as if it were real while she carried it to a small wooden cradle just waiting for a baby doll. She looked over the doll before she set it down, but she didn't see anything a little love couldn't fix.

She'd been drawn to the doll from the instant she saw it, but when she picked it up the owner had flown at her, arms flapping, telling her, "No, no, not that one!"

But the owner couldn't tell her why she didn't want to sell. It wasn't already sold to someone else, or infested with bugs. And when Melanie offered double the price tag attached to the doll's ankle, the owner reluctantly took her money.

Satisfied that the doll was arranged nicely within the crib, she quit the room. Her shopping had taken rather longer than planned due to the argument with the store owner, and she was eager to eat her dinner.

* * *

Melanie had barely pulled her leftovers from the fridge when she heard a faint cry. She glanced up, but didn't see an obvious cause for the sound. Probably the wind passing through.

She slid the prepared tray into the oven and sat down to wait, filling in the day's crossword. She'd gotten rather good at planning out her meals at the beginning of the week, but sometimes it made the task too simple.

Still, these days she almost finished the crossword.

When the kitchen timer went off, she heard the cry again. This time, it sounded distinctly like a baby's wail. Pulling her food from the oven so that it didn't burn, she started to investigate, following the faint cries.

They became louder and louder as she walked down the hall. The sound was coming from her doll room.

Somewhat nervously, she flicked the light on and peered in. Clearly, the loneliness was finally causing her to crack up.

Certain that the sound was coming from her new doll, she crept closer and closer. The angelic sleeping was now twisted with the agony of the doll's screaming.

"Oh, you poor thing," Melanie said, pulling it into her arms as if by instinct. Remembering what she'd seen so many friends do, she tucked the doll against her shoulder and patted it on the back. "There, there sweet thing."

Sure enough, the crying stopped, and that night she cradled the doll in one hand while eating her meal with the other.

"Don't worry, baby," she told her doll. "Mama's got you now."


End file.
